Morse code punctuation
Morse code has its own signals for punctuation: the full stop is ·−·−·−, the comma −−··−−, the question mark ··−−·· and the slash −··−·. ITU-R M.1677-1 lists them all, including the @ sign (·−−·−·).
Easily confused with
How to read it
The ITU names some of these signals for their old telegraph uses: the question mark is also a request to repeat a transmission not understood, the slash is the fraction bar or division sign, and the double hyphen (=) separates the parts of a telegram, the text from the signature for one. Signs with no signal of their own are spelled out: ITU-R M.1677-1 sends × as the letter X and % as 0/0. A footnote to its @ sign records that France’s General Committee on Terminology approved the word “arobase” for it in December 2002.
Also searched as: morse code at sign, morse code comma, morse code full stop, morse code period, morse code question mark, morse code symbols.
The punctuation signals
| Mark | Morse | Name in ITU-R M.1677-1 |
|---|---|---|
| . | ·−·−·− | Full stop (period) |
| , | −−··−− | Comma |
| : | −−−··· | Colon or division sign |
| ? | ··−−·· | Question mark |
| ’ | ·−−−−· | Apostrophe |
| - | −····− | Hyphen or dash or subtraction sign |
| / | −··−· | Fraction bar or division sign |
| ( | −·−−· | Left-hand bracket (parenthesis) |
| ) | −·−−·− | Right-hand bracket (parenthesis) |
| “ ” | ·−··−· | Inverted commas (quotation marks) |
| = | −···− | Double hyphen |
| + | ·−·−· | Cross or addition sign |
| × | −··− | Multiplication sign |
| @ | ·−−·−· | Commercial at |
Where ARRL’s names differ
ARRL’s Morse alphabet calls −···− “Dash (pause)”, where the ITU calls it the double hyphen and gives the hyphen its own six-element signal, −····−. ARRL calls the slash “slant”.
Quotation marks
The ITU’s quotation mark signal goes before and after the words quoted. Where code converters are used, ITU-R M.1677-1 allows the apostrophe sent twice before and twice after instead.
Signals that are also prosigns
The plus sign, the double hyphen and the left-hand bracket share their signals with the prosigns AR, BT and KN: see Morse code prosigns (AR, SK, BT, KN). The @ sign itself is on At sign (@).
Translate Morse code
stringmash.comMorse code translatorTurn text into Morse code and back, play it as sound or flash it as light, with the full alphabet chart.Read next
- Next in Morse codeMorse code timingIn Morse code a dot is one unit long and a dash three. The gap inside a letter is one unit, the gap between letters three units and the gap between words seven, as ITU-R M.1677-1 sets out.
- The @ sign has its own Morse signal, ·−−·−·.At sign (@)The at sign (@) stands for the word “at”. In an email address it separates the person’s username from the domain, and on social media it comes before a username to address a post to that person.
More morse code
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with lines.
Sources
- Recommendation ITU-R M.1677-1: International Morse code, ITU-R M.1677-1 (10/2009), International Telecommunication Union (ITU-R), Annex 1, Part I, §1.1.3 and §3; footnote 1; Part II, §3
- Learning Morse Code, ARRL, Licensing, Education & Training, ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio, Morse Code Alphabet: Punctuation
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 9, 2026. How we research
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